ROBOTS IN THE UKRAINE

ROBOTS IN THE UKRAINE

One hundred and ninety-seven

People viewed my blog yesterday

Although one hundred and eighty-four

Of those were not people at all

But robots in the Ukraine

Leaving thirteen real people -

Probably - reading my deathless

Prose and poetry much neglected

In recent times by myself but

Not robots in the Ukraine

But – you ask – how can I be sure

That it’s not people dropping in

To lick at the produce of my mind

Alas such numbers tell their tale

It’s robots in the Ukraine

On normal days – so many now –

My blog it lies inert unloved

Those zero days can only confirm

When numbers number in hundreds

They’re robots in the Ukraine

Statistics they can tell no lies

Graphs and maps show eastern promise

Probing cybernetic claws reach out

Touching displays of interest

From robots in the Ukraine

MAWH, October 2017

SEASON'S END

SEASON’S END

As Soul Limbo fades away

To nothing for the last time

Another summer is gone

Bat and ball all packed away

The bails lifted

The damp drizzle and dark nights

Winter’s cold begins to creep

Forlornly we look forward

To hollow empty weekends

Now wireless-free

Aggers, Geoffrey and the team

Still silenced for the season

Andrew’s pens all packed away

Along with Tuffer’s muffers

Five no longer live

Their easy banter tuned out

Shorter days now chatter-free

Such days seem long and empty

At least until next month when

The Ashes begin

MAWH, Oct 2017

DROPPING THE ASHES

DROPPING THE ASHES

The bottle waves in his face

Stokes punches him for four

And England drop the Ashes

Shooting themselves

In the foot again

Before anyone’s even

Got on the plane

MAWH, Oct 2017

MUZZLE FLASH

MUZZLE FLASH

The muzzle flashes

Over and over and over

From the thirty-second floor

Down towards the bloody ground

Through yet another senseless act

A madman carves his place

In historical notoriety

Because he can because

No one dare call him wrong

In that land so free

So fifty-nine lives must end

Their lives flash by

So many over and over

Running for cover

As the hot lead rains down

The world becoming nonsense

The human right to life lost

By that ancient rite

Citing unquestioned rights

All notions of the wide

Empty prairie forgotten

Five hundred lives forever torn

Those muzzled flashes

Too many lives now over

In a violent world free

From policing and civilisation

It may have made sense once

With help and neighbours

Sometimes days away

But here today on the

Blood-stained streets

Of Fabulous Las Vegas

Millions of lives must change

MAWH, 031017